Railway-rail joint.



G. H. HOELSOHER.

RAILWAY RAIL JOINT.

APPLICATION FILED Mn 14, 1913.

1,08'7,01 6, Patented Feb. 10, '1914.

atl'ouwg s rrnn STA as PTEN FFTQ GOTTLIEB H. HOELSCHER, F HAWARDEN,IOWA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-FOURTH TO A. D. HORTON AND ONE-FOURTH TO JOHNSMITH, BOTH OF HAWARIDEN, IOWA.

RAILWAY-RAIL J OIN'I.

osaore.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 10, 191%.

Application filed May 14, 1913. Serial No. 767,671.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GOTTLIEBH. HOEL- SOHER, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Hawarden, in the county of Sioux, State of Iowa,have invented certain new and-useful Improvements in Railway-RailJoints; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilledin the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to railway rail joints, and it more particularlyrelates to an improved form of boltless railway joint.

An object of the invention is to provide railway rails each havingenlarged ends, one of which is provided with a socket and the other witha tenon adapted to fit in the socket of the contiguous rail end.

Another object of the invention is to provide a railway joint of thischaracter which is of such configuration and proportions as to provide acombined railway joint and chair.

Another object is to provide a railway joint of this character in whichthe rail heads or tread sections are intermeshed, so as to prevent thejarring and battering by the rolling stock, that takes place at the endsof ordinarily constructed rails.

Another object of the invention is to provide a railway joint of thischaracter in which proper allowance is made for expansion andcontraction of the rails.

Another object is to provide for quickly uniting the rail ends.

Another object is to provide a joint of this character which can only bedisconnected, when the railway track is completed, by sawing orotherwise severing one of the rails, or by disconnecting and moving aconsiderable number of rails; thereby effectually preventing trainWreckers from accomplishing their work by disconnecting the rail joints.

Another object of the invention is to provide a rail joint of thischaracter which is exceedingly strong, compact, comparativelyinexpensive and thoroughly efiicient,

Other objects and advantages may be recited hereinafter and in theclaims.

In the accompanying drawings, which supplement this specification:Figure 1 is a perspective view, illustrating the adjacent ends inposition to be moved into locking position. Fig; 2 is a horizontalsectional view taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is aperspectiveview, similar to Fig. 1, of a modified form of my improved rail joint,and Fig. 4 is a horizontal sectional view taken on the line 4% of'Fig.3.

Referring to these drawings, in which similar reference characterscorrespond with similar parts, throughout the several views: Theenlarged rail ends 5 and 6 are similar in contour, except that the endportion 5 is provided with the locking lug 7, while the end portion 6 isprovided with a recess 8 into which the lug 7 is adapted to be seated.Each portion?) and 6 has inclined lateral sides 9, the planes of whichconverge toward a line above the center of the rail tread and extend inthe longitudinal direction thereof, and preferably being integraltherewith. One end of the rail tread in provided with a tongue or tenon11, which extends from the aperture 8 to the top of the rail tread, andis flush therewith, while the other end of the tread 10 is provided witha vertical groove or mortise 12 into which the tenon 11 is adapted to beseated and snugly fitted. This groove extends from the top 13 of thelocking lug 7 to the top of the rail tread. This top surface 13 isparallel with the bottom surface 14, both of these plane surfaces beingon planes parallel with the top of the rail tread and the bottom 15 orchair element of the rail.

The locking lug is provided with a lateral extension or shoulder 16, andbetween this shoulder and the shoulder 17 is a groove 18, into which theshoulder 19 is adapted to be seated. A groove 20 is provided between theshoulder 19 and the inner rear Wall of the recess or cavity 8.

The bottom 21 and top 22 of the cavity 8 are horizontal and parallel,and are spaced apart a distance equal to the vertical distance betweenthe surfaces 18 and let, so that these surfaces will fit snugly betweenthe surfaces 22 and 21 respectively.

The horizontal width of the shoulders 16 and 19 respectively is lessthan the horizontal width of the grooves 18 and 20 respectively, so thatafter the rails have been securely locked together in their normalalined position, the rails are susceptible of sufficient longitudinalmovement to compensate for expansion and contraction thereof, Thesurface 7 of the lug 7 is convexed while the contiguous inner surface ofthe cavity 8 is concaved; and so, when the lug 7 has been started intothe cavity 8, the convexed surface slides easily and unobstructedlyalong the concaved wall, thereby greatly facilitating the locking of therail joints.

Obviously, when the rails have been locked together, it is impossible toseparate them without relative movement thereof, so as to place them inangular relation to each other, and it is also obvious that the railsmust be started into locking engagement, when placing them together, byfirst placing them in angular relation, as illustrated in the drawings.

The relatively broad and solid bottom 21 constitutes a solid foundationon which the locking lug 7 rests, so as to prevent vertical movement ofthe rail ends relative to each other, and therefore, it will be seenthat this arrangement substantially constitutes a rail chair as well asa secure locking joint.

In lieu of the form of rail joint described in the foregoing, I mayprovide a somewhat similar though somewhat modified form of theinvention in which I employ two locking lugs 7 and 7 respectively, theformer being the lower, and the latter being the upper. These lockinglugs are provided with lateral extensions 16 and 16 respectively, whilenotches or grooves 18 and 18 correspond with the groove 18, previouslyde scribed. The shoulders 19 and l9 engage with the elements 16 and 16respectively, and are fitted within the grooves 1x a and 18respectively. The locking lug 7 fits snugly between the upper surface ofthe lug 7 and the upper surface of the cavity above the lug 7, while lug7 fits snugly within the cavity below the lug 7, sufficient space beingallowed within the cavities and the grooves for allowing for theexpansion and contraction of the rails.

The locking lugs 7 and 7 are evenly curved or convexed at 7 and 7respectively, while the contiguous walls of the respective cavities areconcaved; so that when the joints are being fitted together the saidconvened surfaces slide upon the respective the ease and convenience inconnecting the rails.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that I have provided a rail joint ofthis character which is fully capable of attaining the objects andadvantages recited in the foregoing.

I do not limit my invention to the exact details of construction,combination and arrangement of parts, as herewith illustrated anddescribed, but my invention may only be limited by a reasonableinterpretation of the claims.

I claim:

1. A railway rail joint consisting of rail sections each having its endsenlarged, one of the enlarged ends being provided with a cavity having ashoulder and a tenon and a concaved wall therein, the other rail endbeing provided with a locking lug having a shoulder and a groove and aconveXed surface, said locking lug of one rail section being adapted tobe fitted into the cavity of the other rail section by placing the railsections at an angle to each other and imparting such relative movementthereto as to cause said convexed surface to slide upon said concavedwall and to move the respective shoulders and grooves into lockingengagement.

2. In a railway rail joint, a rail section having an enlarged end with acavity formed therein and provided with a shoulder and a concaved andsubstantially vertical wall within the cavity, said enlarged end beingprovided with a vertical tenon extending from the cavity to the top ofthe rail tread, a second rail section provided with an enlarged endhaving a locking lug which is provided with a substantially verticalconvexed surface and having a shoulder formed thereon, said second railsection having a mortise extending from the locking lug to the top ofthe rail tread, whereby the rail sections may be locked together byplacing them at an angle to one another and inserting said locking lugin said cavity by so moving the rail sections relative to each other asto cause the conveXed surface to slide upon the concaved surface andthereby seat said tenon within said mortise while moving said shouldersinto interlocking position.

3. A railway rail joint comprising two rail sections each having anenlarged end, each said enlarged end being provided with a locking lugand a cavity adjacent thereto, each locking lug being provided with ashoulder, each enlarged end being provided with a shoulder within itscavity thereof, each locking lug being provided with a convexed surface,each enlarged end being pro- Conca'ved surfaces, and thereby facilitatevided with a concaved surface within its cavity, so that the railsections may be Within the cavities are engaged by the 10 lockedtogether by placing them in angular shoulders of the respective lockinglugs. relation with each other and imparting such In testimony whereof,I aflix my signarelative movement thereto as to cause one ture, in thepresence of tWo Witnesses.

of said locking lu s to slide upon the other said locking lug, a iidmove said locking lugs GOTTLIEB HOE LSOHER into the respective cavitiesWith their re- Witnesses: spective convexed surfaces sliding upon theJOHN SMITH, concaved surfaces, so that the shoulders R. L. BROOKS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patentr Washington, D. G.

